Obama Rumors Get More Press Coverage

As America gets to know Sen Barack Obama better, the media has increased its coverage of rumors that he's a secret Muslim whose patriotism is questionable. The rumors were first circulated via blogs and e-mail and, according to PEJ's News Coverage Index, the media narrative about these rumors consumed 0.4% of the campaign newshole from March 13 - April 12. Since then, however, coverage of this storyline has steadily increased -- and in June it gained momentum. With the general election underway, stories about rumors that Obama was not patriotic and had ties to Islam jumped from 0.9% of the campaign newshole studied a month earlier to 3.8% from June 13 - July 12 -- nearly ten times as much attention as the narrative received in March. And that was before The New Yorker's controversial front cover ran. The early evidence, at least, suggests, this story line is not going away.